Frequently, individuals will injure or otherwise experience a debilitation of their lower extremities. For instance, a user may sprain an ankle or break a bone in his/her foot. While some such injuries may allow an individual to wear a “walking cast,” more often than not the injured person is prescribed a pair of crutches or other such ambulatory device. These crutches allowing the injured person to be mobile and stay involved in daily life (work obligations, family, etc.) with out the need for a wheel chair. Additionally, such ambulatory devices are frequently used by below knee (BK) amputees who can't afford or are otherwise between prosthetics.
Existing crutches for temporary and sometimes long term use are one of two types. The first type uses an underarm pad and handles at near waist level. The user's weight is placed on either of the hands, underarms or both. The other type uses some amount of loading on feed and most of the loading on the hands with braces engaging the forearm. Both are awkward and require (predominantly) both hands. Typically, the incapacitated lower leg must be held elevated by the users, with bending at the knee, causing fatigue.
Knee or “mono” crutches are also shown in the prior art. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 6,799,592 (Reynolds), U.S. Pat. No. 4,910,927 (Beatty), U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,299 (Bieri), U.S. Pat. No. 5,941,263 (Bierman) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,058,119 (Rosequist). Such devices typically allowing a user to place a full load on their injured side of the body while supporting the disabled lower leg portion at an elevated position behind the user.